


Lessons in Leverage

by dracoqueen22



Series: This Calamitous Life [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Continuity Mashup, Gen, Transformers AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 21:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3953026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracoqueen22/pseuds/dracoqueen22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunstreaker is more than a little exasperating, but right now, he's all Megatronus has.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons in Leverage

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in a larger story arc that I'm currently working on, pieces of a massive multi-continuity AU that stars my favorite MegatronxSunstreaker ship. It's mostly IDW but some backgrounds and events were borrowed from TFP.

“You're weak on the right side.” The observation floated up to him, spoken so matter of fact that Megatronus shouldn't have taken offense to it.  
  
He did, however.   
  
Megatronus snorted. “Really? I hadn't noticed.” That's what happened when a cave-in crushed your hip and you had to scrape together every last credit for a halfway decent repair. Workers compensation? Hah. That was something the mine owners gave lip service to but didn't actually put into place.   
  
Sunstreaker looked up at him, head tilted as though observing a new, fascinating creature. In truth, Megatronus found Sunstreaker to be the peculiar one. “At least you didn't lose.”   
  
“I didn't win either.” Megatronus grumbled, only to flinch. His left knee assembly protested whatever Sunstreaker was doing to it.   
  
Repairing it, Megatronus hoped. Otherwise, he'd put his faith in the wrong mech. Then again, Megatronus could be accused of doing that quite frequently as of late.   
  
Sunstreaker didn't apologize. He never did.   
  
Pain, he said, was a lesson. It taught you how not to die next time.   
  
“You're alive,” Sunstreaker said and he plunged his fingers into Megatronus' knee again, smearing more sealant over the torn lines. Hydraulic fluid and energon stained the berth beneath Megatronus.   
  
Unsurprisingly, medics were in short supply down here. Megatronus wasn't feared enough to coerce one or rich enough to bribe one. And Sunstreaker refused to waste a favor on what he considered a mesh wound. Megatronus had walked out of the arena, therefore, it wasn't serious.   
  
“For certain definitions of the terms,” Megatronus muttered.   
  
Sunstreaker huffed a laugh.   
  
“Gonna quit?”   
  
“No.”   
  
He looked up at Megatronus with a raised orbital ridge. “You sure?”   
  
Megatronus jerked and then forced himself into stillness as Sunstreaker tugged on something in his knee structure, sending another sharp pain through his sensory net. There was a grating sensation, raw metal rubbing on raw metal with an irritant between. He had the urge to stick his fingers in there and scratch out whatever was causing the discomfort, despite looking down and knowing it was Sunstreaker's fingers.   
  
“It is only pain,” Megatronus said.   
  
Sunstreaker smirked at him, two pointed denta inspiring memories of a datafile Megatronus had once read on predacons. There was something predatory in Sunstreaker's expression, doubly so when he flicked his glossa over his lip.   
  
“For certain definitions of the term,” Sunstreaker purred. He ran an energon-slick talon down one of Megatronus' bared cables, drawing charge in his wake.  
  
An involuntary shiver wracked Megatronus' frame. There was pain, yes, but something followed on the heels of it. His fans clicked on with a clacking rumble. He, like so many others, was in need of basic maintenance.   
  
His winnings for today would have paid for it, had he won.   
  
Megatronus worked his intake. “You are supposed to be repairing me,” he gritted out. His array twitched with interest, onlining with a slow hum.   
  
“Who said I wasn't?” Sunstreaker held his gaze, his blue optics incisive as he stroked the cable again.   
  
Heat bloomed through Megatronus' sensory net. He twitched and a low throb began to work its way to his interface. He had never denied to himself that Sunstreaker was attractive, but he doubted the mech's sincerity.   
  
Sunstreaker had a reputation and while Megatronus was no prude, he was not the type to appreciate lust and arousal being used as a weapon.   
  
Megatronus' free hand curled into a loose fist. “You mock me.”   
  
Sunstreaker smirked and clamped down, talons burying themselves in Megatronus' knee and cables.   
  
_Pain_ seared his sensory net and Megatronus spasmed, blindly lashing out at the source of it. Sunstreaker was too quick. He ducked under the blow, grabbed Megatronus' arm and had him facedown on the berth before he could fully register what had happened.   
  
Sunstreaker bent his arm behind his back, putting strain on his shoulder assembly, the heavy pressure a warning into itself.   
  
Megatronus growled, his free hand clawing at the berth. His legs were trapped by the weight of Sunstreaker's frame, though he was two-thirds Megatronus' mass. He'd learned the value of leverage here in the pits.   
  
“Release me!”   
  
Sunstreaker leaned hard against him, his interface array pressed against Megatronus' hip. He felt the heat of it, the buzzing charge just behind the panel. Sunstreaker's head slid against Megatronus', a susurrus of metal that sent a low-grade shiver down his spinal strut. His spike swelled in its casing; his valve twitched behind his panel.   
  
Megatronus ignored both.   
  
“But I have you right where I want you,” Sunstreaker purred into Megatronus' audial.   
  
Megatronus snarled, trying to break free of the pin. The gears in his shoulder squealed a protest. They were not meant to bend in this fashion. Miners were not meant to be flexible, but sturdy and powerful. Stress warnings lit up like red lights along his processor.   
  
“Right side,” Sunstreaker all but sang and leaned harder against Megatronus' frame.   
  
He chuffed a hot vent. This was defeat all over again, though if Sunstreaker were smug about it, his field did not give him away. Even given that they were pressed plating to plating, Megatronus could still read nothing from the mech.   
  
Sunstreaker pressed his head against Megatronus' again, ex-venting moist air at him, the chuff tingling the delicate panels protected by Megatronus' head. He shivered, torn between his building arousal and the frustration he often felt around the mercurial gladiator.   
  
“Do you want me to beg?” Megatronus demanded.   
  
“Mmm. Maybe later.” Sunstreaker loosened his hold but didn't release him. His vocals slid into something harder. “Not every match will end with victory, Megatronus. Learn to accept defeat. Or keep your aft in the mines where it belongs.”   
  
“I refuse.”   
  
“Your pride will get you killed.” Sunstreaker's arousal remained obvious, but that he could shift gears to lecture Megatronus came as a surprise.   
  
Rumor had it that Sunstreaker was not in possession of his full faculties. Megatronus wondered if Sunstreaker cultivated that reputation for notoriety's sake. After all, down here in the Pits, mechs wouldn't mess with a gladiator who was sooner to cut off your head than grant mercy.   
  
“I did not come here to lose,” Megatronus retorted.   
  
Sunstreaker made a noncommittal noise but he did step back, releasing Megatronus in the same moment. He idly examined his talons, Megatronus' energon staining the tips, as though he hadn't just pinned Megatronus to the berth.   
  
Megatronus pushed himself upright, grimacing as his shoulder twinged. Status reports came back to him undamaged, if not sore. His shift tomorrow would not be pleasant, but then, when was it?   
  
“What was the point of that?”   
  
Sunstreaker flicked his hand, a few drops of energon splattering against the floor. His paint, Megatronus noticed, managed to remain flawless, without so much as a transfer of Megatronus' own paint or the grime he carried with him.   
  
“A lesson.” Sunstreaker's gaze raked him from head to pede, lingering however briefly on Megatronus' knee. “You'll figure it out.” He gave Megatronus a flippant wave and turned toward the door.   
  
He passed a hand over his knee, surprised to find that it had stopped leaking. In fact, other than the missing panels – dented and lying on a nearby table – Megatronus had been repaired.   
  
“You're leaving?”   
  
“Don't take it personal. You're playing hard to get and I don't have the patience to chase today.”   
  
“Hard to get!?”  
  
Sunstreaker snickered at him and ducked out the door before Megatronus could do anything more than splutter. Impertinent little... argh!  
  
Megatronus slid a hand down his face. His head ached. He was grateful for the advice and the tutelage Sunstreaker had been giving him, but the mech could be mystifying when it suited him. And it often did.   
  
No wonder Megatronus received sidelong looks since he'd taken to associating with Sunstreaker. Never mind that no one else had cared about the next piece of fodder seeking to make a name for himself in the arena.   
  
Megatronus prodded at his knee again, but the patches would hold until his self-repair could finish the job. At least he had a relatively quiet berth to himself until his shift in a few cycles.   
  
He reclined on the berth, staring up at the pockmarked ceiling, and ignored the sounds of chaos through the thin walls. His frame still hummed with lingering arousal, though he was not in such a state he could not ignore it.   
  
Sunstreaker, no doubt, was out seeking someone to sate his. He would find no shortage of suitors, despite the rumors of madness.   
  
To some, that was the draw.   
  
Megatronus curled on his side, staring at the weapons marks and the energon spatters on the wall.   
  
He would not lose again. And he would not die down here. His spark was meant for greater things.   
  
He was sure of it.  
  


****

 


End file.
